494 Words About: Climbing the Tallneck in Horizon Zero Dawn
I never got far in Horizon Zero Dawn, in fact I’ve barely explored the map at all. Most of what I know about it is because my ex-wife enjoyed the game immensely, and honestly I enjoyed watching her play. The game is another beautiful example of the open-world genre, and the aesthetic of robotic “animals” and the remnants of human beings coexisting is beautiful to me as a lover of science fiction. And like any open-world videogame released within the last decade, the map of this world is acquired by scaling tower structures and then interfacing with the programming.
Though Horizon Zero Dawn's towers are only towers in the symbolic sense.
Tallnecks are massive machines that resemble giraffes. They have a central body, with xenomorph fins along their back, thick elephantine legs that shake the earth with each step, and a head that’s a large flat disc.
Aloy, the protagonist of the game, eventually learns that Tallnecks act as a relay point for the multitudinous machines in the world by providing signal data and allowing communication between machines. Tallnecks are also unique because they are the only machine which does not attack Aloy or any human being; they simply walk along a predetermined loop.
The first time I actually encountered a Tallneck while playing I dropped whatever quest I was on and spent probably half an hour just trying to climb it. This is because out of everything in the game I had watched my ex-wife play, Tallnecks were my favorite part. Once or twice I had even asked her to climb one just so I could watch Aloy scaling this titanic machine which was apathetic to her existence; Aloy might as well have been a fly on its back. Playing for myself years later I took my time climbing this machine, relishing the failures and learning how best to scale it.
When I arrived at the top and interfaced with its machinery I enjoyed the convenience of new map data, but then after that I left Aloy standing on the head. There was a serenity in that space, as well as the machine itself.
Despite my lack of upper body strength, I’ve climbed a significant number of towers. A number of people have in fact, and this is the result of open-world videogames. Whether it was Assassin’s Creed 2, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or Horizon Zero Dawn, at some point videogames became less about side scrolling and more about climbing towers.
Horizon Zero Dawn was unique because it decided to let the towers move.
It’s ultimately a surface level, aesthetic choice and doesn’t actually offer anything new in game design. But not everything has to be. The strength of a narrative and visual display can make familiar structures feel new to players and encourage play.
Aloy leaping and climbing a giant metal beast was no different than Ezio scaling yet another church steeple, but it was still beautiful to watch.
Joshua “Jammer” Smith
12.30.2024
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